5 Great Apps for Business

In today’s rapidly changing technology landscape, it is more vital than ever to stay on top of key trends so you can put your business in front of them, rather than act too late and end up getting left behind. Recently, the mobile web has been exploding, driven by the widespread acceptance of smartphones and tablet computers which allow people to compute on a mobile basis without the drawbacks of lugging around a heavy, bulky laptop.

This medium has made typing in the URL’s of websites very cumbersome, which has given rise to the much more user-friendly app. While your mind might drift to games like Angry Birds, there are apps for just about every interest area, including business. A scroll through the app store of Apple or Android may induce anxiety though, as there are millions of apps out there, and star ratings do little to broadcast their overall effectiveness.

If you distribute tablets/smartphones for work purposes to your employees, or if you possess such a device yourself and you want to start using it to starting kick ass at your job, there are some apps that you simply must have on your device(s) by default. These great apps for business will go the extra mile in your push towards optimal effectiveness in your business/career.

1) Office Mobile For Office 365

Microsoft has been in the software game for decades, and while they have been outflanked on several occasions by smaller and more agile competition, their core products have largely stood the test of time. One of the those flagship programs is Microsoft Office, which offers word processing, spreadsheet creation, database construction, and much more.

With the long awaited release of its mobile app comes the promise of keeping one’s files updated on the move, but is it worth the $9.99/month subscription fee? The market will decide in the coming months…

2) CardMunch

Ever gone to a networking event, met a bunch of brilliant contemporaries, and then proceed to lose half the cards in the ensuing week following it? Even when you get around to entering their details into your computer systems, the task is a tedious one, soaking up time that could be used for more productive uses. This is where CardMunch comes in, as its optical scan capabilities capture the contact information on business cards when you take pictures of it, automatically entering it into LinkedIn for you. Kills two birds with one stone.

3) Mint.com Personal Finance

As a boot-strapping entrepreneur, keeping track on where every penny goes is paramount, as losing track of certain expenditures could mean trouble for your finances in terms of savings and the tax man. Mint.com Personal Finance fixes, allowing you to track trends that will allow you to plug leaks that you didn’t even realize existed, and with every expense listed clearly, you’ll able to prove every expense you have is above board and legit.

4) Evernote

Ever see something while surfing web or in real life that gave you a flash of inspiration for a work or personal project, only to have no way to capture it effectively? Evernote solves this problem, as it shuttles pics, selected text and webpages to a central website where it can be viewed by members of your team.

5) Campfire

Speaking of teams, when you work together in groups, it results in many meetings where production does not occur. In the absence of these meetings, it can be hard to know whether what you are doing is in harmony with your teammates in the department across the building, leading to endless e-mail exchanges.

The chat app Campfire puts an end to these productivity sucks, as it allows a chat environment that is private, where photos and files can be shared, and people can go and go as they please, without interrupting your work flow to have a meeting.